Chieko Aoki

To do

• Verify whether Chieko Nakamura is indeed Aoki, and make the necessary corrections if so. It appears they are likely the same developer, but see below for more information on needed verification.
• Whenever we run into a situation where we've got one alias spelled two ways, we usually list the most 'accurate' or 'least misspelled' one. Which in this case I put down as "Chiemushi" instead of "Chiemshi", but if you know which is more accurate/representative of the actual person, please correct it.
• According to Black Squirrels' to do page listing Aoki, she left Sega after marrying. Its not too important, but in the goal of being as respectful and accurate with our people articles as possible, it would be nice to note her current surname. Thats a thing in Japanese marriages right? New surnames? (I don't know anything about this. If you do, please see my "List of related coworkers" list on my todo page cause there's 2-3 more Japanese Sega couples I need to determine surnames for.)
• And anything else really :)

CartridgeCulture (talk) 19:11, 12 December 2021 (EST)

Thank you very much for making this addition to cover this little-known female creator who had such an important role in Phantasy Star! I have made a number of updates to the main text.

• There is sadly almost no trace of Aoki on the Japanese internet now, as she had already left Sega by 1993 at the lastest: The World of Phantasy Star book (pub. in Japan in 1993) already refers to her departure). Here is a Japanese scan, and an English translation: http://www.pscave.com/other/worldofps/images/p103_large.jpg, http://www.pscave.com/other/worldofps/rejectedps2plotoutline.shtml.
• Sadly, I have not seen anything in Japanese that could totally confirm her marrying or changing her name afterwards. (I have a STRONG suspicion she later returned to Sega as Chieko Nakamura, who worked on many subsequent Sega games, including Phantasy Star Online, but I cannot prove it. Chieko is not an uncommon name, but Sega was pretty small back then and not that many women. Extra interesting: this same Chieko Nakamura is in the Special Thanks section of the Phantasy Star IV credits along with some other very important Phantasy Star alumni like Kotaro Hayashida, who directed the first game.) Fully understand if the speculation about Chieko Nakamura does not make the cut, but it would be a MAJOR coincidence if they weren't the same person.
• There is no preference for Chiemushi and Chiemshi, just a nickname which in Japanese is pronounced exactly the same.
• My apologies as well for the problems with the Production Credits section. Every time I edit other parts of the article, this section's game titles seem to disappear, but I do not understand why. Zanza (talk) 20:39, 12 December 2021 (EST)

• Thank you so much for all this info, this is all awesome :))) and for pointing out Aoki in the first place! Don't worry about the formatting, I'll take a look if it's still acting funky. And I was looking at Nakamura too, I have the same feelings its our Aoki. I'll have to do some research... I wonder if Nakamura is her surname from her marriage? Anyway, tysm again, and if you have any questions on formatting/anything, just drop me a message on my Talk page :) CartridgeCulture (talk) 21:45, 12 December 2021 (EST)

• Was just about to create a dedicated talk section for the Nakamura connection, got to about the sixth point listed, took a step back and realized that it's very very likely her. I think the PSIV credit is the biggest giveaway, but combined with Black Squirrel's information about her leaving Sega when she got married... Hm. So she got married and left Sega in 92-93, right in the timeframe PSIV's manual would have been written. And all of a sudden there's a Chieko Nakamura credited as one of the core PS crew. Pushing those two points together is enough to call it for me, but I can def see where we'd like maybe one additional point of verification. Considering what we know now, something linking the two shouldn't be too difficult to track down. If we can find a Japanese Facebook for either of these two names, OR we can find the name of Chieko's spouse, we can really start digging. CartridgeCulture (talk) 21:54, 12 December 2021 (EST

I really appreciate the interest! She's such a signficant but little-known figure since media was so limited at the time. Again, I can't confirm in Japanese or English that she's 100% Chieko Nakamura, but I feel okay leaving that qualified speculation on the main page at the very least. Also of interest is that an Atsuhiko Nakamura appears in Special Thanks for both PSIII and PSIV, while Chieko Aoki is in Special Thanks on PSIII and Chieko Nakamura is in Special Thanks on PSIV. Nakamura is one of the most common names in the country, but that's another awfully interesting coincidence...Zanza (talk) 22:06, 12 December 2021 (EST)